by Carla Kovach
‘Sorry, guv. On a good note, I’m going through all the CCTV cameras from the Tesco Superstore, looking for Mr and Mrs Collins. I’ll hopefully have something to report soon.’
‘Don’t let me keep you. Is Jacob there?’
A scuffling sound came through the phone, sounding like O’Connor was holding it against his body or covering the receiver and Gina caught O’Connor’s muffled words as he asked around. ‘He is, guv.’
‘Would you ask him to meet me at Amber’s landlord’s, Vincent Jordan’s, bungalow as soon as? I want someone else with me when I speak to him and let me know if you hear from Wyre.’ Gina listened as O’Connor relayed her request.
‘He said he’s on his way. Be ten minutes. On a good note, Mrs O has made some pecan and maple twists, I’ll keep one aside for you.’
‘Mrs O is too kind. Tell her “thank you” from me.’
‘Certainly will.’ O’Connor ended the call and Gina stared at her phone. She’d tried Wyre three times and no answer. She did a half-hearted jog on the spot to warm up a little but it wasn’t working. Her fingers may as well have been three times as chunky as she missed the redial button and cursed her failed attempt under her breath. Her phone lit up. It was a message from Wyre.
I’m not too good. Sorry. Paula Wyre.
Gina’s brow furrowed. This wasn’t protocol. Each and every one of them had been sick at some point. The first thing they were required to do was actually call in. She exhaled a white mist and wondered if her break up with George had been affecting her colleague more than she was making out. The usually pristine Paula Wyre had seemed a little dishevelled but she’d also been eager to work so that her mind was off her problems.
Gina stared at the message. Had her response been a little cold? It wasn’t as if their messages or emails had ever ended with kisses but there was something off. She scrolled back to Wyre’s message. Since when had she ever been that brief? Wyre trusted her enough to say what was wrong and why would she end with her full name? Paula Wyre. Paula or Wyre would have been sufficient or even nothing. Gina knew her number.
She tried to call Wyre again and the call was cut off. She tried again but her phone went straight to voicemail. An uneasy feeling began to swell in the pit of Gina’s stomach. In her mind she pictured Wyre still in bed, depressed and unwashed, not wanting to get up and face the world. As a colleague, it was Gina’s duty to leave her be; as a friend, there was no way she could sit back and see Wyre head into some dark descent. After her visit to the Fish and Anchor, she was going to head to Wyre’s apartment to see if there was anything she could do to help.
Jacob pulled around into the car park and drove straight into a space. The booming of his music could be heard from outside. He turned the Kings of Leon off and stepped out of his car. ‘Anything from Wyre, yet?’
She nodded. ‘She sent me a text saying she wasn’t good, whatever that means.’
‘A text?’
‘I know. Something’s not right.’
Jacob pulled his gloves on and did a comical shiver. ‘I know Smith’s team is a couple of PCs down too.’ He pulled his hat further over his ears. ‘It’s like the arctic out here.’
Gina rubbed her hands together. ‘I suppose we best get on with it then.’ They walked down the winding lane together at the back of the apartment block. It was sectioned off by a row of lopped off conifers that seemed to reach the height of the block. A ray of winter sun reached through the gaps in the foliage, glistening off the ice-tipped branches and fallen needles.
A rugged road led them to a bungalow that looked condemned. The aerial seemed to be attached with old rope to some plastic piping that was swaying on the side of the building. A collection of old used tyres were piled up beside the front door and a shopping trolley sat in the middle of the mud garden as if it were a feature.
Jacob glanced up and down. ‘This place looks condemned.’
Gina almost slid on the icy uneven slabs as she put her hands out and regained her balance using the front door. ‘You’re not wrong.’ She knocked as hard as she could with her balled up hand. There was no knocker and no bell, only a little exterior post box attached to the right side of the door. Several flyers were leaking out, threatening to escape. She knocked again and placed her ear against the door. ‘I can’t hear anything.’
‘Wait.’ Jacob stepped to the side. ‘I just saw a curtain twitch down the far end.’
The front of the bungalow had four large windows and the curtains were drawn across all of them. She knocked again and then an interior door slammed. Moments later, after listening to about three locks being slid across followed by the turn of a key, the door creaked open.
‘What? Don’t you know what time it is? I don’t want to buy anything. I don’t do charity or religion.’
‘It’s eight thirty in the morning. I’m DI Harte and this is DS Driscoll. We’d like to have a few words with you. May we come in?’
He scrunched his face up making it look like his mahogany brown eyebrows were meeting in the middle. His thick lips smacked. ‘No.’
‘It would be easier if we could talk inside.’ Gina was hoping to take a look at how he lived and his body language was not sitting well with her – plus, it was cold. From what she knew, Vincent Jordan claimed to be in on the night of Amber Slater’s abduction and now, for some reason, he wasn’t going to let them in. He didn’t have to let them in but he was looking more suspicious by the second. He didn’t respond in anyway. If anything, he pressed the door closer to his body, leaving no room through the gap for Gina to see in. ‘We need to talk to you about Amber Slater’s abduction and murder. She was your tenant and neighbour. Either you invite us in or we book an appointment for you to come and speak to us down the station, this morning.’ That was enough to make him open up.
He rattled the flimsy door open and folded his arms as they stepped inside the dark, flowery-wallpapered hallway. A scurrying sound came from above. He pointed upwards. ‘Rats in the loft.’
Gina shivered. The one wall was filled with pictures, a ramshackle mixture of old photos of places and prints of famous paintings. She glanced up at the loft as a rat ran above her. The dirty pink runner led to a kitchen that looked like it had been fitted in the sixties. Tidy but scuffed doors were hanging off cupboards by their hinges and the old freestanding cooker stood against the wall, grease melded onto every part of it. She glanced out of the window, which revealed a huge garden with several large sheds at the bottom. The smell of grilled cheese hung in the air, then she spotted the pizza box leaning against the bin.
‘I’d offer you a drink but I don’t want you to stay. I don’t do visitors so just say what you have to say so we can all get on with our day. I have to clean the communal areas today and sweep up leaves.’ He pulled his vest down further over his maroon bed shorts. His feet padded along the dirty lino flooring before he stopped and leaned against the worktop.
‘Amber Slater was last seen on Friday night. Evidence is pointing to the fact that she was taken from the car park in front of the apartment block you manage. She was later found dead at Cleevesford Park. We need to ask you a few questions. Did you see or hear anything from the apartment block on Friday evening after six?’
He let out a snigger. ‘I don’t see or hear anything. Have you seen how far back I am? The conifers also provide a screen. I don’t have anything to say because I don’t know anything.’
‘That’s not what the tenants say. They say that you’ve gone over to the block a few times when they have music on and asked them to turn it down. So you can hear from your bungalow.’
‘Yeah, when it’s turned up so loud it sounds like they’re having a rave. I bet they didn’t tell you they played it that loud.’
Jacob leaned against the fridge. ‘Where were you between six and nine last Friday evening?’
The man’s gaze flashed to Jacob where he stared at him. ‘I was here. I’m always here. Always around, always on call, that’s me.’
&nb
sp; ‘Mr Jordan.’ Gina stared at him and paused, wanting to unnerve him a little. He fitted their bill. He seemed to be a loner, he was cagey. He was everything they could be looking for, on paper. ‘Tell me a bit about yourself.’
He opened his mouth, then closed it, not expecting her to say that. ‘There’s not much to tell. I live here. It’s my job to maintain and manage the apartment block and I do the general maintenance for a few others. My parents own a few properties and they leave this one with me to look after. It comes with the bungalow so that I’m always around should anyone need me. This is my main and only job. I’m forty-five. Anything else?’
‘Do you have an alibi for Friday evening?’
‘No and I don’t like where this is going.’
‘May we take a look around?’
‘No. Please leave. Unless you have anything to charge me with or any evidence that I have done anything wrong, I’m not saying another word without a solicitor.’ He stepped forward, ushering them out of the kitchen and back into the hallway. As they passed a slightly open door, he slammed it closed. Gina tried to glance through the next door but he did the same again, ending her view abruptly. He literally nudged them out the door and back into the cold. ‘At about seven thirty on Friday evening I was on a phone call to my electrician, Eamon. One of the lights in the block is out and he normally comes to replace the bulbs. I don’t do electrics. He is listed under EL Electrical Contractors and I called him from my home phone. I’m sure you’re both skilled enough in detective work to verify that, look him up, and ask.’ He smiled as he rubbed his stubble and slammed the door.
‘We meet them all in our job.’ Gina said to Jacob. As she led the way along the slippery path back to the road, she stared through the trees at the apartments. ‘What did you make of him?’
‘Shifty.’
‘We definitely need to check his alibi out and I’d like to see if the electrician’s phone call log shows that Vincent Jordan called from his landline on Friday evening about seven thirty.’
‘I wonder what he was hiding behind all those doors.’
‘He wasn’t about to let us look. We’ll see if his alibi checks out and take it from there.’
Jacob stopped at the end of the road and looked up at the apartments. ‘The other day, you were going to tell me something but then you forgot and I forgot to ask. What was it?’
‘Oh yes, it was about Wyre, but you can’t repeat it. It’s not common knowledge yet.’
‘Okay.’
‘Wyre’s engagement is off. I thought she was handling it okay but today, I don’t know. She hasn’t called or come into work. All I have is a text from her.’
‘I thought they were solid.’
‘And me.’
‘Have you tried calling her again?’
Gina nodded. ‘I’ll try now. Her phone went to answerphone last time.’ She pulled her phone from her pocket and pressed Wyre’s number. ‘Answerphone again. I’m going to pop by hers when we’ve finished at the Fish and Anchor. There’s just time to catch up back at the station before heading over there while they prep for lunch service. I called ahead and Lennie Dack the landlord said we could come after ten thirty.’
Gina’s phone rang in her hand. ‘O’Connor.’
‘Guv. I’ve been through the footage showing the times that Mrs Collins claimed she and her husband were at Tesco and she was lying. We only have her walking around the shop. Her car is clearly visible on the cameras, coming and going – she was alone.’ Gina felt her head begin to hurt. The Collinses had lied and she wanted to know why.
‘Another thing, guv. Doctor Nowak called and said Madison Randle is well enough to speak now.’
‘Will you message me the ward details? And double, triple check that footage at the supermarket. We can’t get this wrong.’ She turned to Jacob. ‘Skip the last plan. We’re heading straight to Cleevesford Hospital. A good description or a positive ID of Madison’s attacker could fix everything at the moment. Let’s go.’
34
I saw the fear in her eyes as I brought the rock down on the side of her head. All done efficiently and no one saw, that’s the good thing. The trail of blood down the side of her face has dried up and she stirs. Opening her red pepper-sprayed eyes, I register her confusion. She looks momentarily blank.
She makes some half-hearted whimper. I don’t have long before she’ll try to escape or summon up the strength to fight back again so I tighten her binds. She cries a little. She may feel all-powerful in her policing role, fighting crime and making the streets safer but here and now, she is brought down a peg.
‘It’s okay. Don’t be scared. You’re safe here with me.’ My mother was wrong about that look in my eye. That wasn’t the look that said I was about to kill. I’m saving that one for later and only if I need it. If she turns out to be like Amber, it will be all her fault. She will have brought it on herself.
35
Gina checked her phone as she and Jacob hurried onto the ward, swiftly being buzzed in by a nurse who caught sight of them from behind a counter. Still nothing from Wyre. As she approached the desk, she held her identification up. ‘DI Harte and DS Driscoll. Doctor Nowak left me a message telling us we can now speak to Madison Randle.’
‘Ah, go through those double doors, carry on down the corridor and it’s the first room to your left. There was a PC there but he left for a comfort break.’
‘Thank you.’ As they reached the room, Gina spotted the young woman lying there with a white sheet covering her body. Another girl appeared from the corner of the room holding a pair of tracksuit bottoms and a jumper. Gina knocked.
Madison beckoned her in with a shaky hand. The dressing on her head covered up the sticky bloody wound that Gina had seen the night before. A piece of surgical tape dangled from her dark hair. ‘Hello. Are you from the police?’ She slurred a little as she spoke and her eyes opened wide. She shook her head. ‘I’m so not with it yet. I asked for something to help me sleep last night and I feel zonked too.’
‘DI Harte and DS Driscoll. We’d like to ask you a few questions. You probably won’t remember but I found you last night, in the bushes at the back of the car park.’
Staring blankly, Madison shook her head. ‘I’m sorry.’
The other girl stood awkwardly by the door. ‘Shall I come back in a bit?’
Gina turned. ‘Would you mind?’
‘Course not. Shall I get you some chocolate, Maddie?’
Madison nodded. ‘Thanks, Alice. I’d love some. I think I deserve it. Won’t be counting calories while I’m stuck in here feeling sorry for myself.’
‘Back in five.’ Alice left the room and the door softly closed behind her.
Madison pushed the overhead television away from her body. ‘Have you found him?’ She winced as she sat up a little.
Shaking her head, Gina sat and Jacob pulled his notebook from his pocket. ‘Sorry, not yet, but we need to ask you some questions. I can see you’re in a lot of pain so I’ll try not to keep you long.’
‘Don’t worry about that. I just want him caught.’
‘Please tell us what you know from the beginning. Include everything, however small.’ Gina gave Madison a warm smile to put her at ease.
Rubbing her head, Madison stared at the sink on the opposite wall as she thought back. ‘Nanna was taken into hospital yesterday. She had a fall but she’s okay. I stayed with her while we were waiting for her to be discharged.’ She paused and swallowed. ‘I left Nanna in the foyer to get the car. I usually park outside the entrance as she’s not very mobile. When I’d arrived earlier the car park was full, but there’s a patch of rough tarmac at the back that is used as an overspill car park. When I went back to get the car it was dark.’
A tear trickled down her cheek.
‘I know this is hard but you’re doing really well. You’ve been through a lot so just take your time.’ Gina placed one hand over the other and leaned back to put Madison at ease and not rush her.
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sp; ‘That’s when I saw him, well his outline. It was dark. He had a walking stick and looked a bit wobbly. I think I offered to help him or if I didn’t, I intended to. It’s a bit of a blur. I remember being scared and I remember fighting him off me. I can’t remember how I came to be doing that, it happened so fast. I kneed him in the groin at one point and he yelped but that didn’t put him down. He was still coming for me and I ran towards the bushes. I thought, if I can just hide, he’ll give up and go. He hit me with something hard but I can’t remember when. If it was before I kneed him, or after…’
‘You’re doing great.’
‘I remember my heart pounding. I thought I was going to die. I kept thinking about the other student, Amber, and I didn’t want to end up in a lake, dead. I tried to be quiet but my head… it was spinning and next thing, I was out of it. I don’t remember being brought into the hospital and I don’t remember last night. I had weird dreams and woke up this morning wondering where I was and then I called Alice – she’s one of my best friends. Apparently the staff persuaded Nanna to get a taxi home in the night.’
Gina tilted her head. ‘Can you tell us what your attacker looked like?’
Madison pulled her sheet up a bit further, almost up to her neck. Gina could see the trembling of her hands under the sheet. ‘It was pitch-black. There are no lights up there. I remember him being bulky; either he was wearing layers or larger built. It felt like layers when he grabbed me, not muscle if you know what I mean. A scarf covered the bottom of his face and he wore a hat, just a woolly hat or hood but I couldn’t make out any features. I’d just walked straight up from the lit area into darkness. My eyes hadn’t properly adjusted to the change in light then it all happened so quickly, I panicked. I fought like mad and I think I hurt him but I wasn’t going to make it easy for him to take me. I read that most attackers don’t think that people will fight back, that we freeze. I fought knowing that my life probably depended on it and I hid. I didn’t want to die.’ A few tears became a sob.